Happy is happy today

Today my first day back to working 8-5 started. I was thankful for my time off, feel very rested and missed the kids! Kimberlie has now started her 3 days off. Tomorrow she and Ilse are going to watch the Holland futbol game in Arusha and I am letting them borrow my two orange shirts so they can show their support for the Dutch! I’m not sure why I brought two orange shirts but I am glad they are coming in handy. Kimber is also going to try to find out some more information about a safari while she is in town. She has been doing lots of research on safaris and Zanzibar. Hopefully we can get something settled soon.

I was writing postcards to people yesterday and found myself frequently writing “I hope you are having a great summer!”. After writing it I quickly realized I don’t think my summer could be going any better. I am in a beautiful country, with one of my best friends, making new friends from around the world, experiencing a new culture and most importantly loving on the sweetest babies I have ever seen who accept my love with out any hesitation.

I had one of the best days I have had since I have been here today. I got up early, felt well rested, talked to Adam, and headed down stairs to see 30 smiling faces. Even though Kimber and I are rarely together around the kids due to our alternating shifts they seem to know we are friends and associate us together. They asked Kimber where I was the last three days she just told them I was upstairs sleeping. So as I showed up this morning and Kimber left they asked if I was still sleeping (la la) and I told them no I was awake now. They then asked if Kimber was now sleeping and I told them yes, it was sweet.

When we work the 8-5 shift the morning starts with all the other nannies sitting around, singing old hymns in Swahili followed by a quick scripture reading and prayer. I try to focus on the prayer but I am too distracted by the kids screaming, biting, and fighting so I tend to try to pray with my eyes open. I figure God understands. The nannies are fine with letting all the kids be alone but I cannot relax. This morning they sang “How Great Thou Art” and another song that I love and inevitably get stuck in my head and have no clue what the words are, very frustrating.

The morning flew by and I was able to catch up with Ellie one of the day volunteers who is from Australia. It is nice to have someone to talk to and I really enjoy talking about Australia with Ellie. While I wasn’t there long with my parents, I feel in love with the place and really like the things I remember when reminiscing with her.

James face is not looking too great. He has some open sores on it that seem to ooze most the day. When he arrived he had Hookworm and so I told Bathilda the nurse about his face and she didn’t seem too worried. She put some cream on it and off we went. Hopefully it will start looking better soon.

So the last week I have fallen in love with a little girl named Happy. She is just the sweetest, most joyful, cutest baby girl I have ever seen. I really cannot express in words how much I adore her. During my break from 12:30-2:30 while my kids were napping I told Christina, Happy’s nanny that I was going to take her for a walk. Christina grabbed Happy, changed her nappy, put her in a cute pink outfit, washed her face, coated her in baby oil, grabbed a sweater and hat for her and we were off. It was sweet how Christina made sure Happy was at her best for our brief outing. Happy is about 5 months old I believe and a tiny thing, but she is sitting up well on her own and really interacts with you. Whenever we make eye contact or I say her name, I am not sure who is grinning bigger, me or her.

Once Happy was prepared for her little outing with me, I took her straight upstairs to our apartment and we hung out for about two hours. I loved having her to myself with out having to worry about sharing my attention with all the other kids. We talked to Kimber, I gave her a tiny taste of my Nutella and CranApple juice and we talked, played and giggled. I was excited the internet was working so we Skyped my parents and Meredith. I was glad they got to meet Happy and she was so precious. She even got to see Nolan and Barrett. What I would give to be able to take Happy home with me…. While she was all mine, I took the opportunity to learn how to tie a Kangas. It is a piece of fabric that the women here use to carry their babies everywhere. I purchased the fabric last week but wanted to put it to use. I still need a lot of practice, but with Ilse’s help Happy was secure in the Kangas and we headed out for a walk. The nice thing about the Kangas is that you can easily move her from your back, to your side to your front. I couldn’t stand not being able to see her on my back so I moved her sweet smiling face to the front so we could walk and talk. The two hours went by way to quick, but they were some of the happiest moments of my life. Ugh, I know this rambling sounds so corny and ridiculous but my heart was ready to burst with love. If I was married, rich, a Tanzanian resident, and many other things I would adopt her in a heartbeat.

Ilse went to talk to an adoption lawyer today, and it sounds like adopting Rosie is not going to work out for her. Many of the new laws that make it much harder to adopt from here are already into effect. While it is so sad that she cannot have Rosie right now, it is good to know she did everything she could to take her home. I was glad that she met with the lawyer today so that after my wonderful afternoon with Happy my mind could not wander too far and I could not realistically find a way to taking her home. While I did already have her new name picked out among, other things, it could have gone way further. So now I am free to love on all the babies with out wondering if I could do more for them. Right now, I am not able to adopt and I am sure that is all in God’s plan for my life. My mind has been forever changed to the thought of adoption so we will see what the future holds for me. All that said, when I brought Happy back today (she has been sick with really bad eye infections), the nanny Christina said to me, “It’s good to see Happy happy today”. She had been a bit sad from feeling so bad. While I cannot take Happy home with me, she will be in my heart, thoughts, and prayers forever.